Crock Pot Thai Chicken Curry with Vegetables is a goof-proof method for preparing Thai curry. This simple dump and go slow cooker meal is perfect for weekly meal prep and just as tasty as the authentic version.
In all the years I’ve been making Thai curry, it wasn’t until recently that I tried preparing it in the crock pot.
For those of you who are long-time follower, you know my One-Skillet Ground Turkey Thai Curry with Rice was my easy go-to one-pot meal for months upon months.
After diving into the glorious world of slow cooker curry, I may just always use the crock pot method moving forward.
Here’s why!
This simple recipe involves dumping every last ingredient into the crock pot, stirring it up, and allowing the crock pot to do its thing. There’s no sauteing, no monitoring, no guesswork, and a whole lot of flavor.
Plus, the chicken turns out so nice and tender, which is a major win in my book.
This versatile crock pot curry recipe can easily serve as a jumping off point (or base recipe) for all your Thai curries.
For instance, you can turn it into yellow curry or green curry with one ingredient swap, mix up the vegetables (or don’t add any), and change out the protein for beef, shrimp, pork, or even salmon.
The best part about this delicious dinner recipe is all of the ingredients can be found at any local grocery store. The end result is comfort food at its finest as we’re getting a filling meal with so much luscious flavor.
Plus, there is very little prep work to prepare this delicious chicken curry with amazing unique flavor.
This is in no way an authentic Thai recipe, but is meant to be an easy method for preparing curry using ingredients you can find at any grocery store.
If you would rather make curry in a hurry in right around 30-40 minutes, make my Easy Red Curry Chicken recipe, which is prepared on the stove top.
Let’s discuss the ingredients for chicken Thai red curry.
Ingredients for Slow Cooker Chicken Curry:
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts or Chicken Thighs: We chop up boneless chicken breasts or boneless chicken thighs to stew in delicious coconut curry sauce.
You can also use bone-in skin on chicken thighs and leave them whole through the cooking process, just as you can leave the chicken breasts (or tenders) whole if you’d prefer.
Full-Fat Canned Coconut Milk: One of the main ingredients in Thai curry is full fat coconut milk. Be sure to use a quality brand that you are familiar with and trust, because not all coconut milks are created equally.
Some have a smooth texture whereas others are fairly grainy and watery. My favorite brands of coconut milk are Native Forest, Whole Food’s 365 brand.
Yellow Onion, Fresh Garlic, Fresh Ginger: Onion, ginger, and garlic are paramount in Thai curry recipes because they create big, bold aromatic flavors that complement the coconut sauce so well. Feel free to scale up the amount of each if you’d like.
Thai Red Curry Paste: Store-bought curry paste is what makes this easy Thai curry so simple to prepare! You can pick your favorite type of Thai curry paste – yellow curry paste, green curry paste, panang curry paste, etc. For this particular recipe, I went with red curry paste.
Note that varying brands of curry paste contain varying spice levels. The Thai Kitchen brand is relatively mild, whereas the Mekhala brand I use is relatively spicy. For mild curry, be sure you’re using a curry paste that is on the mild end.
Fish Sauce: While it may sound strange if you aren’t accustomed to cooking with it, fish sauce is often used in most Thai recipes (not just curry) and provides a rich umami flavor that is difficult to mimic with anything else.
If you know you don’t enjoy fish sauce, you can replace it with soy sauce but I highly recommend using fish sauce for authentic Thai flavors.
Pure Maple Syrup: Many Thai restaurants add sugar to curry sauce, which creates a sweet flavor to balance the savory, umami flavors.
You can also use brown sugar or regular white sugar in place of pure maple syrup. The recipe as written does not taste overly sweet, so you can adjust the amount to your personal taste.
Rice Vinegar: A little rice vinegar adds a nearly imperceptible tang to round out the flavor profile. You can also use lime juice or apple cider vinegar.
Sea Salt: Add sea salt to your personal taste. If the curry tastes at all bland to you, add salt until you notice the big flavors shining through.
Optional Additions:
Add in any hearty vegetables you enjoy, such as carrots, zucchini, broccoli, potato, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, green onions, green bell peppers, red bell pepper, snap peas, green beans, etc. I like adding carrots, zucchini, and broccoli.
If you enjoy bamboo shoots, add a couple cans of drained bamboo shoots.
Recipe Adaptations:
- Looking for a lower fat option? Use lite coconut milk instead of full-fat, or swap out one of the cans of coconut milk for 1 and 2/3 cups of chicken stock. If you prefer creamy curry, stick with the full-fat coconut milk.
- If you’re making panang curry, add a few tablespoons of peanut butter to the curry sauce.
- For spicy curry, add 1 to 2 jalapenos, 1 to 3 Thai chilis, or red pepper flakes to your personal taste.
- If you can get ahold of kaffir lime leaves (which you can find at Asian grocery stores or markets), add them in!
- Cook rice into the crockpot Thai chicken curry by adding 1 cup of white rice and 2 cups of chicken broth.
Now that we’ve covered the simple ingredients list for Thai chicken curry, let’s make it!
How to Make Crock Pot Thai Red Curry Chicken:
Chop the chicken on a cutting board into bite-size pieces and transfer it to the crock pot. Add in the remaining ingredients (coconut milk, onion, garlic, ginger, red curry paste, fish sauce, pure maple syrup, rice vinegar, and sea salt) and give everything a big stir.
Don’t worry if there are chunks of curry paste and coconut milk that aren’t easily mixing in – they will dissolve during the cooking process.
Secure the lid on the crock pot and cook on High heat for 4 hours or Low heat for 6 to 8 hours.
If you’re adding vegetables, do so at least 1 hour before the curry is finished cooking. If you want very soft vegetables, add them 1.5 to 2 hours prior to the end of cooking.
Serve red curry chicken with steamed brown rice, jasmine rice, or white rice and enjoy! For a low-carb option, serve with cauliflower rice.
If you love Thai basil feel free to stir Thai basil leaves into the curry just before serving. You can also serve this healthy meal with fresh cilantro on top.
The red curry sauce will thicken up after the curry finishes cooking and begins to cool. To thicken up the sauce quickly, you can add 1 to 3 tablespoons of tapioca flour, gluten-free all-purpose flour, or cornstarch.
Store leftover curry in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. You can also freeze curry in a large zip lock freezer bag for up to 3 months.
Thai curry tastes even better the next day! For this reason, don’t shy away from making curry a day or two ahead of time.
The next time you’re craving a Thai curry recipe, this simple recipe is a great way to achieve the best Thai curry with very little effort.
If you love Thai food, also try out these reader favorites.
More Curry Recipes:
- Vegan Pumpkin Curry
- Chicken Massaman Curry
- 30-Minute Thai Green Curry with Avocado
- Red Curry Salmon and Vegetables
- Instant Pot Green Curry
Set it and forget it curry, here we go!
Crock Pot Thai Red Curry Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken breasts chopped
- 2 (15-oz) cans full-fat coconut milk
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 Tbsp fresh ginger minced
- 5 Tbsp red curry paste
- 1 Tbsp fish sauce
- 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup to taste
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp sea salt to taste
Optional Additions:
- 2 large carrots chopped
- 1 medium-sized zucchini chopped
- 1 small head broccoli chopped
Instructions
- Chop the chicken on a cutting board into bite-size pieces and transfer it to the crock pot. Add in the remaining ingredients (coconut milk, onion, garlic, ginger, red curry paste, fish sauce, pure maple syrup, rice vinegar, and sea salt) and give everything a big stir. Don’t worry if there are chunks of curry paste and coconut milk that aren’t easily mixing in – they will dissolve during the cooking process.
- Secure the lid on the crock pot and cook on High heat for 4 hours or Low heat for 6 to 8 hours.
- If you’re adding vegetables, do so at least 1 hour before the curry is finished cooking. If you want very soft vegetables, add them 1.5 to 2 hours prior to the end of cooking.
- Serve red curry chicken with steamed brown rice, jasmine rice, or white rice and enjoy! For a low-carb option, serve with cauliflower rice. If you love Thai basil feel free to stir Thai basil leaves into the curry just before serving. You can also serve this healthy meal with fresh cilantro on top.
- The red curry sauce will thicken up after the curry finishes cooking and begins to cool. To thicken up the sauce quickly, you can add 1 to 3 tablespoons of tapioca flour, gluten-free all-purpose flour, or cornstarch.
Notes
Nutrition
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Is the amount of curry paste correct?
Thank you
Hi Susan! Yes, the amount of curry paste is correct 🙂 If you’d like to use less, you definitely can. You can always add more later if you feel the flavor is lacking. Hope you enjoy!
Can I use curry powder instead of paste?
Hi Erlene! Curry powder works great too. I would use 2-3 tablespoons to start out and you can always add more once the curry is finished cooking if you think it needs it. Happy cooking!
is the thai curry receipe night shade free, since your adding curry paste
Hi Linda! This recipe is not nightshade-free 🙂 Curry paste does include chilies and peppers, so in order to make the recipe nightshade-free, you would need to use an alternative to curry paste. I hope this helps!